KC Irish Fest...good times...

My biking buddy Jeremy always tells me about the cool fairs and festivals that he attends as we bike around Columbia. Recently he mentioned he was going to the KC Irish Fest and I said that sounds like fun, so Flat Jason and I planned to meet him there.

Holy cow! It was fun! The festival was Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but Flat Jason and I only made it for the bands on Sunday. The festival was at Crown Center and on State Street. All the fountains, except the fountain garden, were dyed green. It was really pretty, and the weather was perfect. We walked around and checked out the booths. They tons of neat things from jewelry to kilts and pinch hats to crosses.

They even had a heritage area where they had sessions about Irish language, sports, stories and other heritage-y things. We stopped at a little area they had set aside for demonstrations by people in costume who represented the Irish Americans that fought in the Civil War. Flat Jason posed with one of the soldiers' swords.

I'm not sure what a pumpkin had to do with the festival, but I couldn't pass up a cutout. I usually make Jason do those...we must have done five or six when we went to the Renaissance Festival...

After we looked around, we claimed some seats in front of the Boulevard Stage. We made sure to get seats a little way back and in the shade. Our afternoon/evening line-up was Barra MacNeils, Beoga, Pogey and the Elders.

Pogey is my new favorite band! They were high energy and totally got the audience involved. Even though we weren't up front, we got some people around us to stand up and dance with us. Jumping, clapping, singing, yelling...it's been a while since I've had that much fun at a concert!